How to Block Your Wall on Facebook From a Friend, Friend of Friend or everyone. And How to Block a Wall Post on Facebook

So far these are the simplest instructions I've come up with for How to Block Your Wall on Facebook From a Friend, Friend of Friend or everyone. And How to Block a Wall Post on Facebook

1 Click "Account" at the top right of your profile screen.

2 Click "Privacy Settings." Click the "Custom" button and then click "Customize settings."

3 Click the current privacy settings next to "Posts by me." Your current privacy setting is either "Everyone," "Friends of friends" or "Friends only." Click "Customize."

4 Type the name of the person you wish to block from setting your wall in the "These people" text box under "Hide from." Click "Save Setting."

Then Check this too

1 Log into Facebook and click "Edit My Profile" at the upper left.

2 Click the "Privacy Preferences" link in the left column.

3 Select the "Edit Settings" link from the "How You Connect" area.

4 Select the gray menu box positioned to the right of "Who Can See Wall Posts." A menu appears.

5 Click "Custom."

6 Click the "These People" text field in the Hide This From section.

7 Type the name of the person you want to block from posting on your wall. Names appear below the These People field while you type.

8 Click the person's name. His name appears in the "These People" field. Repeat Steps 7-8 to add more people.

9 Select "Save Changes."

In your PRIVACY SETTINGS, if you want to change how your wall appears to others you need to go to TIMELINE & TAGGING and change your settings there. I have this feeling that most of you are going to CONTROL YOUR DEFAULT PRIVACY and making your changes there. Control your default privacy only changes your future post, until you change it again. So, if you make sure that you set those first (TIMELINE & TAGGING). Keep in mind this does not change settings for your posts, not photo Album.

Here's another little secret. On your wall underneath your wall banner is ACTIVITY LOG and right next to it is a GEAR icon. If you click that icon, select VIEW AS. A search bar will appear on the top left corner of your page . Select a name of one of your friend and it will show you exactly how your page appears to that friends and if you read the description you'll notice the word PUBLIC in blue and it will show you how the page appears to the public. This is how you can view your settings! [if you do this make sure you clear your internet cache settings first!] :-)

I’d also like to put in another recommendation for the use of ‘Social Fixer’ a Browser Plugin to dramatically improve your ability to control the layout and functionality of Facebook.

Below are some screen captures of the above procedures for you if you care.

Hope this helps some who’ve been asking me.

For your future post make sure your settings are defined correctly as you do them.

Facebook Timeline Fix with Social Fixer

OK. I was asked again about Facebook's Timeline and how to 'fix it' and make the experience more like 'it used to be'. I'll tell you now: You are stuck with Facebook Timeline - it's Facebook’s world and what they say goes in their world. (for the most part anyways). And Facebook says EVERYONE is getting Timeline!

BUT you can Un-Fack the Timeline and make it more 'enjoyable' by using the Social Fixer extension for Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari. Get it here. I just posted about this a couple of days ago but seems not many actually read it. Hope you will this time. The folks at Lifehacker put up a quick and simple video of it's use here:

 

So get the extension, watch the video and experiment and see if this help you.

I have also written numerous articles on using extension/add-ons for Browsers - specifically Firefox and Chrome. Since so many of us spend so much time interacting with the world via a Browser window, it's seems utterly silly that most won't or don't customize or tweak that window for more productivity, security and enjoyment. Maybe, many of you just don't know what you can do. But now you do. So go search through my blog to find those other tips!

While I’m here let me give you some other links on how to better secure your Facebook Profile and enhance your personal security.

Techworld has a VERY good article here. I agree with, and do everything they mention.

Have fun and stay safe out here. :-)

Peace.

SocialFixer fixes Facebook replaces BetterFacebook

Better Facebook extension/Addon has been updated/changed to ‘SocialFixer’

This extension makes Facebook SO much more useable!! It’s just great.

If you previously had the Better Facebook! extension installed remove it.

Then go here and install the new version called Social Fixer for your preferred browser(s).

Install the Social Fixer Extension (for Firefox, Chrome, Opera etc.) Then go to https://facebook.com You will then be prompted with the configuration wizard.

Here is what the wizard looks like and here are the settings I chose.

I don’t like the ‘Light Box’ feature, so I choose to Disable Light Box Viewer:

I’m also fine with the Default theme

I also went in and made more changes.

You will see a little ‘Wrench’ where you can access your ‘Social Fixer’ settings:

Here you can REALLY TWEAK away.

My advice is to make one or two changes at a time and sees how they work for YOU.

I hope that helps some of you wrest control of you Facebook back. Peace out.

More on fixing Facebook

I wrote about using the Firefox (Chrome works too) add-on Greasemonkey and the super script BetterFacebook and I have been getting loads of requests for people asking me to go into a little more detail of how to use it. You should read that first here.

I am amazed at how well I was able to ‘un-muck’ my Facebook pages!

Here is what my Facebook home page now looks like now after setting up and using the BetterFacebook Greasemonkey Script in Firefox:

Here are the options as I’ve selected them. Once installed and you restart your browser then ‘re-login’ to Facebook, cancel the set up wizard. Then go to the ‘new’ Options button near your User Name and click on it.

The options I selected give me virtually the same/old layout I’ve been used to and added the ‘feed’ to the right; which I actually find useful so long as it doesn’t try and take over the whole page. Also removed are ads and other garbage I never use – applications being the major one.

Note above that I selected the ‘Stech the Layout…’ option

Note that above I selected the ‘Force the main news feed to be ‘Most Recent’..

And that’s all the settings I chose and hit ‘Save’.

I hope that helps those that asked. You’re all grown ups. I hope that you can take the time and a  chance to experience some ‘pain’ and learn how to do this.

Get your Cloud Data down to your machine

Here are some ways to get your 'cloud data' backed up locally.

I know most people look to the 'cloud' for their secondary backups (if they even have a primary one) but few people ponder what will happen if their information is lost or compromised in the cloud or the terms of service of the provider that holds that information changes to your detriment.

I am going to provide some information on how to get your data out of your web email, Facebook and some other services.

One thing I see quite often is that people cannot access their online/web mail service at an important time to find information or they lose or have deleted the information they need and have no way of retrieving it.

So let's start with web mail services. Today most people have very important information stored in their email; from plane reservations, business communications all the way to payment receipts. So in my opinion this is the first and most important place to start.

Get your mail downloaded locally.
For GMail. [My personal favorite!]:
Before you do anything, you'll need to enable POP3 and/or IMAP in Gmail, which will let you access your accounts on the desktop. To do this, head into Gmail's Settings and go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab. Scroll down to the IMAP section and enable IMAP. Then save your changes, and open up your desktop email client of choice to set it up using the following instructions.

I use Outlook 2007/2010.

If you don't have Outlook you can also use Thunderbird (an open source application by the Mozilla folks)

There are also a number of other mail applications you can use to get your information - Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook Express, LiveMail etc..

I like using the POP3 connections over IMAP for most of my connections.
POP mail service has been available MANY times when IMAP has NOT - for my Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. If the 'webmail' is not available online because of a service interruption then IMAP will most certainly too. This is not usually the case with POP. HOWEVER there is a big caveat with POP - you must make sure in the advanced settings or your mail client that you choose "to leave a copy of the message on the server"!!

But IMAP does have its advantages too.
So pick what will provide you with the most features you feel you will need - I suspect that would be IMAP probably be best for most people.

To set up POP with Gmail look here,  and find your client and follow the steps.
For IMAP go here.  and find your client or device on the list and follow the instructions.

If you'd like to read further about the differences between IMAP and POP you can read this here.

For Yahoo mail it is a little harder if you live in the U.S..
Yahoo wants you upgrade to a "Mail Plus" paid account to get POP and IMAP access directly. But you don’t have to! The best option is to use an application called YPOPs. I've used it in the past to get my Yahoo mail connected to Thunderbird and Outlook with out any issues.

If you have Window Live Mail or Apple Mail the client itself downloads your Hotmail/.Live or MacMail/MobileMe data to your machine by default. BUT remember this is an IMAP connection so if you delete something from you Live Mail client on the desktop it will be deleted on the server!

One important thin that may people miss is to get their CONTACT data out/backed-up from their mail clients. Something I also feel is very important.
For virtually all web mail clients that is as simple as going to the 'Contact' section and finding and choosing the 'Export' option. Those can then be exported into a format that virtually any Email client can import.
That should get you going with your mail.

Now to Picasa.
Simplest way is to install the latest version Mac or PC and then simply go up to the menu and use File ==> Import from Picasa Web Albums ==> Select All.
And Flickr
You can use Flickr’s Flash based web app here  just click on the 'start now' and follow the instructions.
Or you can use the open source application Downloadr . Downloadr is a photo downloader for Microsoft Windows. It provides a simple interface to download large sized images from Flickr to your computer.

Now to Facebook.
If you have Yahoo you can easily download/copy all of your contact out. You can follow this tutorial here.  One tip is that I would suggest setting up a 'temporary' Yahoo alias with NO contacts in it so that you do not end up with duplicates or mismatched merges. Then export those and import them into any application you choose.

Also Facebook now allows you to actually export YOUR data to a file! Following this VERY well written walk-through right here. I've done it and it works great! You may have to wait a while before you receive your 'confirmation email' and link but you will be able to get your stuff.

Finally there is an open source application Called MyCube Vault. MyCube Vault Backs Up Your Facebook and Google Data Regularly
Once installed, the app requires you to authorize it to each of the services you want to back up. From there you can tell the service where to store your backups and how often to save your data. If you're concerned about downtime or just wary of keeping your data in the cloud, it's worth a look.

I checked it out and it works well.
Windows version here

Mac version here

Well that is a long winded post and I hope some people will put it to use. Like backing up your local data don’t be the person who loses precious information because you were too lazy or couldn’t be bothered to learn something new.

Peace.

Backup your Facebook Profile Information

I am going to show you two (2) methods of obtaining your Facebook contact information; Names and email account information. One via a browser extension/add-on and another via using an ‘intermediary’ email account – in this case Yahoo.

As I have written many times I love me my Firefox browser. With the add-ons/extensions and tweaks I use, I am able to make use of my Browser as my most important productivity tool. With Firefox extension/add-ons and Greasmonkey extensions I have been able to do just about everything I've ever needed to with a browser.

I do also use Internet Explorer for some of my Microsoft sites where it is needed and Google Chrome - though primarily a portable version and/or on my Linux builds. It is also good to check any site building/scripting in all these browsers for differences in behavior.

One reason I don't use Chrome that often is that although I love many things Google (Gmail and Google Apps in particular), I don not like the fact that just about EVERYTHING you type into Chrome address bar gets sent back to Google! AND the 'google updater' is constantly running in the background.

For this reason I use Chrome portable. You can pick up the latest version here. [For a Standalone Installation - To install a portable app by itself, or manually, just browse to the location of the [AppName]_Portable_x.x.paf.exe file you downloaded. Double-click the file to start the installation. Follow the on-screen prompts and select the location you'd like to install to. Within the directory you select, an [AppName]Portable directory will be created containing the portable app.]

Method 1 – Chrome Extension:

Now for the fun! I just found a Chrome extension that is totally awesome but so far is not available or does not have a like kind for Firefox 4. Get a copy of Chrome and install this extension - It is called the "Facebook Friend Exporter", get it here. 

This extension allows for exactly what it says. You can install this plugin, log into Facebook, go to your 'Friends' page and then export all of your friends profile information that is contained in YOUR Facebook profile page(s).
This extension will allow you to get your friends information that they shared to you:
- Name
- Emails
- Phone numbers
- Screen names
- Websites
- Address
- Birthdays

Two methods of exports
- CSV file (if you have many friends, greater than 500, it will be very slow)
- Gmail Contacts (It will place them into a folder called "Imported from Facebook")

Notes:
- An "Export" button will appear on Facebooks toolbar on the top.
- Click on it and it will open a screen to start processing.
- Depending how many friends you have, this may take a very very long time to complete.
- For example: Exporting 100 friends will take at least 30 minutes!!

Additionally I may upload a copy of my portable Chrome build with all the extension already packed in; but that will have to come later.

Method 2 – Via Yahoo:

Another simple method to get Facebook contact information is to use a Yahoo email account.

· Import Facebook Contacts into Yahoo Mail

• Step 1

Create a free email account at Yahoo Mail if you don’t have one or a use a new one to keep your contacts separate. Make sure you can send a test email out – to ‘verify’ your account. Log out of the Yahoo Mail account, once created. Close all open browsers.

• Step 2

Open a new instance of a web browser and enter the URL for Yahoo. Log into your ‘general’ yahoo account. [make sure if you have the ‘redirect remover’ Firefox add-on installed in your browser to disable it temporarily]

• Step 3

Click the "Facebook" button usually down on the lower left hand side. A login prompt will appear requiring a valid Facebook user ID and password.

• Step 4

Log into the Facebook account where the contacts reside you wish to get. Open a new ‘Tab’ in your browser and type in Yahoo.com (you should still be signed in there too.) As soon as you logged in through the Yahoo Address page, the Facebook contacts will be available in Yahoo Contacts. Open the Yahoo ‘Contacts’ and choose to ‘get/import’ your contacts. A Facebook icon will be displayed and you will be asked if you are sure you wish to import them. Say yes of course and in a few moments all your Facebook contacts (names and email addresses contained in Facebook address book) will now be in your Yahoo Contacts! That simple!!

Contacts that are in Yahoo can then be exported for use in many other email applications. You can choose to export in a few different ‘.csv’ file formats, a single Outlook file format or a zip file containing all the individual files in an ‘address book card’ files format (.vcf). .VCF files can be imported into many applications – Gmail being one, not just Outlook.

· Export Facebook/Yahoo Contacts as a CSV File

• Step 1

Click on the "Address Book" tab in Yahoo Mail.

• Step 2

Select "Address Options."

• Step 3

Click "Import/Export." The Export dialog box will open.

• Step 4

Click the button labeled "Export Now" next to the email client the export will be imported into. For example, if the exported CSV file will be imported into Outlook, select "Outlook."

• Step 5

Type a file name for the CSV file into the input box, when prompted and click the "Save As" button. Save the CSV file. The file is now ready to be imported into the specified email client or utilized as data. Super simple!